A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean Part 24

Indian deer (the only species found in those parts, except the moose) are so much larger than those which {225} frequent the barren grounds to the North of Churchill River, that a small doe is equal in size to a Northern buck. The hair of the former is of a sandy red during the Winter; and their horns, though much stronger, are not so long and branchy as are those of the latter kind. Neither is the flesh of those deer so much esteemed by the Northern Indians, as that of the smaller kind, which inhabit the more Eastern and Northern parts of the country.

Indeed, it must be allowed to be much coa.r.s.er, and of a different flavour; inasmuch as the large Lincolns.h.i.+re mutton differs from gra.s.s lamb. I must acknowledge, however, that I always thought it very good.

This is that species of deer which are found so plentiful near York Fort and Severn River. They are also at times found in considerable numbers near Churchill River; and I have seen them killed as far North, near the sea-side, as Seal River: But the small Northern Indian deer are seldom known to cross Churchill River, except in some very extraordinary cold seasons, and when the Northern winds have prevailed much in the preceding fall; for those visits are always made in the Winter. But though I own that the flesh of the large Southern deer is very good, I must at the same time confess that the flesh of the small Northern deer, whether buck or doe, in their proper season, is by far more delicious and the finest I have ever eaten, either in this country or any other; and is of that peculiar quality, that it never cloys. I can affirm this from my own experience; {226} for after living on it entirely, as it may be said, for twelve or eighteen months successively, I scarcely ever wished for a change of food; though when fish or fowl came in my way, it was very agreeable.

The beaver[98] being so plentiful, the attention of my companions was chiefly engaged on them, as they not only furnished delicious food, but their skins proved a valuable acquisition, being a princ.i.p.al article of trade, as well as a serviceable one for clothing, &c.

The situation of the beaver-houses is various. Where the beavers are numerous they are found to inhabit lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well as those narrow creeks which connect the numerous lakes with which this country abounds; but the two latter are generally chosen by them when the depth of water and other circ.u.mstances are suitable, as they have then the advantage of a current to convey wood and other necessaries to their habitations, and because, in general, they are more difficult to be taken, than those that are built in standing water.

There is no one particular part of a lake, pond, river, or creek, of which the beavers make choice for building their houses on, in preference to another; for they sometimes build on points, sometimes in the hollow of a bay, and often on small islands; they always chuse, however, {227} those parts that have such a depth of water as will resist the frost in Winter, and prevent it from freezing to the bottom.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

The beaver that build their houses in small rivers or creeks, in which the water is liable to be drained off when the back supplies are dried up by the frost, are wonderfully taught by instinct to provide against that evil, by making a dam quite across the river, at a convenient distance from their houses. This I look upon as the most curious piece of workmans.h.i.+p that is performed by the beaver; not so much for the neatness of the work, as for its strength and real service; and at the same time it discovers such a degree of sagacity and foresight in the animal, of approaching evils, as is little inferior to that of the human species, and is certainly peculiar to those animals.

The beaver-dams differ in shape according to the nature of the place in which they are built. If the water in the river or creek have but little motion, the dam is almost straight; but when the current is more rapid, it is always made with a considerable curve, convex towards the stream.

The materials made use of in those dams are drift-wood, green willows, birch, and poplars, if they can be got; also mud and stones, intermixed in such a manner as must evidently contribute to the strength of the dam; but in these dams there is no other order or method observed, {228} except that of the work being carried on with a regular sweep, and all the parts being made of equal strength.

In places which have been long frequented by beaver undisturbed, their dams, by frequent repairing, become a solid bank, capable of resisting a great force both of water and ice; and as the willow, poplar, and birch generally take root and shoot up, they by degrees form a kind of regular-planted hedge, which I have seen in some places so tall, that birds have built their nests among the branches.

Though the beaver which build their houses in lakes and other standing waters, may enjoy a sufficient quant.i.ty of their favourite element without the a.s.sistance of a dam, the trouble of getting wood and other necessaries to their habitations without the help of a current, must in some measure counterbalance the other advantages which are reaped from such a situation; for it must be observed, that the beaver which build in rivers and creeks, always cut their wood above their houses, so that the current, with little trouble, conveys it to the place required.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

The beaver-houses are built of the same materials as their dams, and are always proportioned in size to the number of inhabitants, which seldom exceed four old, and six or eight young ones; though, by chance, I have seen above double that number.

{229} These houses, though not altogether unworthy of admiration, fall very short of the general description given of them; for instead of order or regulation being observed in rearing them, they are of a much ruder structure than their dams.

Those who have undertaken to describe the inside of beaver-houses, as having several apartments appropriated to various uses; such as eating, sleeping, store-houses for provisions, and one for their natural occasions, &c. must have been very little acquainted with the subject; or, which is still worse, guilty of attempting to impose on the credulous, by representing the greatest falsehoods as real facts. Many years constant residence among the Indians, during which I had an opportunity of seeing several hundreds of those houses, has enabled me to affirm that every thing of the kind is entirely void of truth; for, notwithstanding the sagacity of those animals, it has never been observed that they aim at any other conveniencies in their houses, than to have a dry place to lie on; and there they usually eat their victuals, which they occasionally take out of the water.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

It frequently happens, that some of the large houses are found to have one or more part.i.tions, if they deserve that appellation; but that is no more than a part of the main building, left by the sagacity of the beaver to support the roof. On such occasions it is common for those {230} different apartments, as some are pleased to call them, to have no communication with each other but by water; so that in fact they may be called double or treble houses, rather than different apartments of the same house. I have seen a large beaver-house built in a small island, that had near a dozen apartments under one roof: and, two or three of these only excepted, none of them had any communication with each other but by water. As there were beaver enough to inhabit each apartment, it is more than probable that each family knew its own, and always entered at their own door, without having any farther connection with their neighbours than a friendly intercourse; and to join their united labours in erecting their separate habitations, and building their dams where required. It is difficult to say whether their interest on other occasions was anyways reciprocal. The Indians of my party killed twelve old beaver, and twenty-five young and half-grown ones out of the house above mentioned; and on examination found that several had escaped their vigilance, and could not be taken but at the expence of more trouble than would be sufficient to take double the number in a less difficult situation.[AZ]

Travellers who a.s.sert that the beaver have two doors to their houses, one on the land-side, and the other next the {231} water, seem to be less acquainted with those animals than others who a.s.sign them an elegant suite of apartments. Such a proceeding would be quite contrary to their manner of life, and at the same time would render their houses of no use, either to protect them from their enemies, or guard them against the extreme cold in Winter.

The quiquehatches, or wolvereens, are great enemies to the beaver; and if there were a pa.s.sage into their houses on the land-side, would not leave one of them alive wherever they came.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

I cannot refrain from smiling, when I read the accounts of different Authors who have written on the oeconomy of those animals, as there seems to be a contest between them, who shall most exceed in fiction.

But the Compiler of the Wonders of Nature and Art seems, in my opinion, to have succeeded best in this respect; as he has not only collected all the fictions into which other writers on the subject have run, but has so greatly improved on them, that little remains to be added to his account of the beaver, beside a vocabulary of their language, a code of their laws, and a sketch of their religion, to make it the most complete natural history of that animal which can possibly be offered to the public.

There cannot be a greater imposition, or indeed a grosser insult, on common understanding, than the wish {232} to make us believe the stories of some of the works ascribed to the beaver; and though it is not to be supposed that the compiler of a general work can be intimately acquainted with every subject of which it may be necessary to treat, yet a very moderate share of understanding is surely sufficient to guard him against giving credit to such marvellous tales, however smoothly they may be told, or however boldly they may be a.s.serted, by the romancing traveller.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

To deny that the beaver is possessed of a very considerable degree of sagacity, would be as absurd in me, as it is in those Authors who think they cannot allow them too much. I shall willingly grant them their full share; but it is impossible for any one to conceive how, or by what means, a beaver, whose full height when standing erect does not exceed two feet and a half, or three feet at most, and whose fore-paws are not much larger than a half-crown piece, can "drive stakes as thick as a man's leg into the ground three or four feet deep." Their "wattling those stakes with twigs," is equally absurd; and their "plaistering the inside of their houses with a composition of mud and straw," and "swimming with mud and stones on their tails," are still more incredible. The form and size of the animal, notwithstanding all its sagacity, will not admit of its performing such feats; and it would be as impossible for a beaver to use its tail as a trowel, except on the surface of the ground on which it walks, as it {233} would have been for Sir James Thornhill to have painted the dome of St. Paul's cathedral without the a.s.sistance of scaffolding. The joints of their tail will not admit of their turning it over their backs on any occasion whatever, as it has a natural inclination to bend downwards; and it is not without some considerable exertion that they can keep it from trailing on the ground. This being the case, they cannot sit erect like a squirrel, which is their common posture: particularly when eating, or when they are cleaning themselves, as a cat or squirrel does, without having their tails bent forward between their legs; and which may not improperly be called their trencher.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

So far are the beaver from driving stakes into the ground when building their houses, that they lay most of the wood crosswise, and nearly horizontal, and without any other order than that of leaving a hollow or cavity in the middle; when any unnecessary branches project inward, they cut them off with their teeth, and throw them in among the rest, to prevent the mud from falling through the roof. It is a mistaken notion, that the wood-work is first completed and then plaistered; for the whole of their houses, as well as their dams, are from the foundation one ma.s.s of wood and mud, mixed with stones, if they can be procured. The mud is always taken from the edge of the bank, or the bottom of the creek or pond, near the door of the house; and though their fore-paws are so small, yet it is held close up between them, under their throat, {234} that they carry both mud and stones; while they always drag the wood with their teeth.

All their work is executed in the night; and they are so expeditious in completing it, that in the course of one night I have known them to have collected as much mud at their houses as to have amounted to some thousands of their little handfuls; and when any mixture of gra.s.s or straw has appeared in it, it has been, most a.s.suredly, mere chance, owing to the nature of the ground from which they had taken it. As to their designedly making a composition for that purpose, it is entirely void of truth.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

It is a great piece of policy in those animals, to cover, or plaister, as it is usually called, the outside of their houses every fall with fresh mud, and as late as possible in the Autumn, even when the frost becomes pretty severe; as by this means it soon freezes as hard as a stone, and prevents their common enemy, the quiquehatch, from disturbing them during the Winter. And as they are frequently seen to walk over their work, and sometimes to give a flap with their tail, particularly when plunging into the water, this has, without doubt, given rise to the vulgar opinion that they use their tails as a trowel, with which they plaister their houses; whereas that flapping of the tail is no more than a custom, which they always preserve, even when they become tame and domestic, and more particularly so when they are startled.

{235} Their food chiefly consists of a large root, something resembling a cabbage-stalk, which grows at the bottom of the lakes and rivers. They eat also the bark of trees, particularly that of the poplar, birch, and willow; but the ice preventing them from getting to the land in Winter, they have not any barks to feed upon during that season, except that of such sticks as they cut down in Summer, and throw into the water opposite the doors of their houses; and as they generally eat a great deal, the roots above mentioned const.i.tute a chief part of their food during the Winter. In Summer they vary their diet, by eating various kinds of herbage, and such berries as grow near their haunts during that season.

When the ice breaks up in the Spring, the beaver always leave their houses, and rove about the whole Summer, probably in search of a more commodious situation; but in case of not succeeding in their endeavours, they return again to their old habitations a little before the fall of the leaf, and lay in their Winter stock of woods. They seldom begin to repair the houses till the frost commences, and never finish the outer-coat till the cold is pretty severe, as hath been already mentioned.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

When they s.h.i.+ft their habitations, or when the increase of their number renders it necessary to make some addition to their houses, or to erect new ones, they begin felling {236} the wood for these purposes early in the Summer, but seldom begin to build till the middle or latter end of August, and never complete their houses till the cold weather be set in.

Notwithstanding what has been so repeatedly reported of those animals a.s.sembling in great bodies, and jointly erecting large towns, cities, and commonwealths, as they have sometimes been called, I am confident, from many circ.u.mstances, that even where the greatest numbers of beaver are situated in the neighbourhood of each other, their labours are not carried on jointly in the erection of their different habitations, nor have they any reciprocal interest, except it be such as live immediately under the same roof; and then it extends no farther than to build or keep a dam which is common to several houses. In such cases it is natural to think that every one who receives benefit from such dams, should a.s.sist in erecting it, being sensible of its utility to all.

Persons who attempt to take beaver in Winter should be thoroughly acquainted with their manner of life, otherwise they will have endless trouble to effect their purpose, and probably without success in the end; because they have always a number of holes in the banks, which serve them as places of retreat when any injury is offered to their houses; and in general it is in those holes that they are taken.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

{237} When the beaver which are situated in a small river or creek are to be taken, the Indians sometimes find it necessary to stake the river across, to prevent them from pa.s.sing; after which, they endeavour to find out all their holes or places of retreat in the banks. This requires much practice and experience to accomplish, and is performed in the following manner: Every man being furnished with an ice-chisel, lashes it to the end of a small staff about four or five feet long; he then walks along the edge of the banks, and keeps knocking his chisels against the ice. Those who are well acquainted with that kind of work well know by the sound of the ice when they are opposite to any of the beavers' holes or vaults.

As soon as they suspect any, they cut a hole through the ice big enough to admit an old beaver; and in this manner proceed till they have found out all their places of retreat, or at least as many of them as possible. While the princ.i.p.al men are thus employed, some of the understrappers, and the women, are busy in breaking open the house, which at times is no easy task; for I have frequently known these houses to be five and six feet thick; and one in particular, was more than eight feet thick on the crown. When the beaver find that their habitations are invaded, they fly to their holes in the banks for shelter; and on being perceived by the Indians, which is easily done, by attending to the motion of the water, they block up the entrance with stakes of wood, and then haul the beaver out of its hole, either by hand, if they can reach it, or with a large hook {238} made for that purpose, which is fastened to the end of a long stick.

In this kind of hunting, every man has the sole right to all the beaver caught by him in the holes or vaults; and as this is a constant rule, each person takes care to mark such as he discovers, by sticking up the branch of a tree, or some other distinguis.h.i.+ng post, by which he may know them. All that are caught in the house also are the property of the person who finds it.

The same regulations are observed, and the same process used in taking beaver that are found in lakes and other standing waters, except it be that of staking the lake across, which would be both unnecessary and impossible. Taking beaver-houses in these situations is generally attended with less trouble and more success than in the former.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

The beaver is an animal which cannot keep under water long at a time; so that when their houses are broke open, and all their places of retreat discovered, they have but one choice left, as it may be called, either to be taken in their houses or their vaults: in general they prefer the latter; for where there is one beaver caught in the house, many thousands are taken in their vaults in the banks. Sometimes they are caught in nets, and in the Summer very frequently in traps. In Winter they are very fat and {239} delicious; but the trouble of rearing their young, the thinness of their hair, and their constantly roving from place to place, with the trouble they have in providing against the approach of Winter, generally keep them very poor during the Summer season, at which time their flesh is but indifferent eating, and their skins of so little value, that the Indians generally singe them, even to the amount of many thousands in one Summer. They have from two to five young, at a time. Mr. Dobbs, in his Account of Hudson's Bay, enumerates no less than eight different kinds of beaver[99]; but it must be understood that they are all of one kind and species; his distinctions arise wholly from the different seasons of the year in which they are killed, and the different uses to which their skins are applied, which is the sole reason that they vary so much in value.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

Joseph Lefranc, or Mr. Dobbs for him, says, that a good hunter can kill six hundred beaver in one season, and can only carry one hundred to market. If that was really the case in Lefranc's time, the canoes must have been much smaller than they are at present; for it is well known that the generality of the canoes which have visited the Company's Factories for the last forty or fifty years, are capable of carrying three hundred beaver-skins with great ease, exclusive of the Indians luggage, provisions, &c.[100]

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]

{240} If ever a particular Indian killed six hundred beaver in one Winter, (which is rather to be doubted), it is more than probable that many in his company did not kill twenty, and perhaps some none at all, so that by distributing them among those who had bad success, and others who had no abilities for that kind of hunting, there would be no necessity of leaving them to rot, or for singing them in the fire, as related by that Author. During my residence among the Indians I have known some individuals kill more beaver, and other heavy furrs, in the course of a Winter, than their wives could manage; but the overplus was never wantonly destroyed, but always given to their relations, or to those who had been less successful; so that the whole of the great hunters' labours were always brought to the Factory. It is indeed too frequently a custom among the Southern Indians to singe many otters, as well as beaver; but this is seldom done, except in Summer, when their skins are of so little value as to be scarcely worth the duty; on which account it has been always thought impolitic to encourage the natives to kill such valuable animals at a time when their skins are not in season.

The white beaver, mentioned by Lefranc, are so rare, that instead of being "blown upon by the Company's Factors," as he a.s.serts, I rather doubt whether one-tenth of them ever saw one during the time of their residence in this country. In the course of twenty years experience in the countries {241} about Hudson's Bay, though I travelled six hundred miles to the West of the sea-coast, I never saw but one white beaver-skin, and it had many reddish and brown hairs along the ridge of the back, and the sides and belly were of a glossy silvery white. It was deemed by the Indians a great curiosity; and I offered three times the usual price for a few of them, if they could be got; but in the course of ten years that I remained there afterward, I could not procure another; which is a convincing proof there is no such thing as a breed of that kind, and that a variation from the usual colour is very rare.

Black beaver, and that of a beautiful gloss, are not uncommon: perhaps they are more plentiful at Churchill than at any other Factory in the Bay; but it is rare to get more than twelve or fifteen of their skins in the course of one year's trade.

Lefranc, as an Indian, must have known better than to have informed Mr.

Dobbs that the beaver have from ten to fifteen young at a time; or if he did, he must have deceived him wilfully; for the Indians, by killing them in all stages of gestation, have abundant opportunities of ascertaining the usual number of their offspring. I have seen some hundreds of them killed at the seasons favourable for those observations, and never could discover more than six young in one female, and that only in two {242} instances; for the usual number, as I have before observed, is from two to five.

[Sidenote: 1771. December.]